


Fragments

by MirabelleAurea



Series: The Daughter of Rivers and Bones [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Experimentation, Fae & Fairies, Gen, Language, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Supernatural Elements, cursing, graphic depiction of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:13:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirabelleAurea/pseuds/MirabelleAurea
Summary: The life and struggles of Aislin Rose, the one who can't remember who she is and doesn't know what she is. The story of how she'd been broken and how she'd healed her wounds.
Series: The Daughter of Rivers and Bones [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735915
Comments: 11
Kudos: 4





	1. Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

> So this what became Dancing with the Devil. No more a fanfinc, and it's own original story. I'm not English native, so, sorry for the typos and errors. Thanks to @pikkulef for proofreading this version, and thnks to @joasakura for lending me Archer and Benjamin. ^^

> From here there's no turning back  
>  Listen to me baby  
>  Once upon a time  
>  My heart was an ocean.
> 
> The Pogues, **Once Upon a Time**.

Once upon a time there was a little girl. The Little Girl lived in a Big City, in a neighborhood called Brooklyn, in a small apartment, with Mom and Dad. They had known each other for a very long time and had fallen in love when they were very young. Dad liked to protect people, so he started off as a soldier, Mom wanted to be a scientist. When the Little Girl was born, it was a surprise. To stay close to his family, Dad decided to become a policeman in his neighborhood. And Mom, while taking care of the Little Girl, continued her studies.

The Little Girl grew up in a loving family. She used to stay on Mom's lap while she read her books or wrote a paper, she followed Dad when he was home, playing with his uniform. How she loved the colour! And she loved playing with Little Brother who shared her room because the apartment was too small. Dad and Mom really loved their Little Girl, they loved when she laughed, her copper curls, her green eyes, the same colour as her father's. As she grew up, she learned many things, she liked to dance, she liked to watch Dad cook and Mom write.

But when she was six years old the Little Girl disappeared. No one could find her anywhere. Dad looked for her again and again, and he became angry with the People, calling them incompetent and careless. And Mom cried again and again, and she worked twice as hard to forget her grief. But no one could find the Little Girl. So, six years after the day she disappeared, they dug a grave for the Little Girl and Dad and Mom and Little Brother cried for her and put flowers on the empty coffin. And no one ever knew where the Little Girl had disappeared and whether she was dead or still alive. And the grave was empty and Dad knew that the Little Girl was somewhere.

Finally, many years later, the Little Girl returned to the Big City. But she did not remember anything, not where she had lived, not where Mom or Dad had lived. She had a new family, a new name and a new life.

***

The Little Girl met Archer about six months after her arrival at the lab. At that time, the Little Girl no longer existed, she was nothing more than vague memories, words spoken in a soft voice, smells, sounds and images that tended to seem like a confused dream. She was Aislin and nothing else for six months, it was written on the metal bracelet attached to her wrist. At first she had looked at it with curiosity, not understanding the meaning of the word engraved on it. It was followed by a series of numbers that made no sense to her. Then she finally realized it was her. Aislin.

Gradually there was no other world but this one: an underground illuminated by artificial lights in which she felt as if she had always lived. She sometimes remembered what the sky was like, the streets, the smell of rain and the sound of the waves, but it was very far away now, and she wasn't sure if it was reality or her imagination fed by the videos that they made her to watch. Now her world was reduced to needles, orders, pain and fear, and from time to time she would catch glimpses of other children, younger or older than her. The first time she had woken up, she was not alone. There was another child in the room, a younger boy. Small, fragile, terrorised, with big blue eyes with golden specks and pale blond hair. Like her, he was unable to say who he was and how he got there, or even what "there" was. She never saw him again. A man in a white coat came and took him away. She still remembered the sound of the door closing on them, with a strange echo.

Archer (that's what his bracelet said; Aislin had learned to pay attention to everything around her) was older than she was, tall, dreadfully thin, angry, with black hair that seemed to have a life of its own and pointed in all directions. His eyes were like her own. The same colour. Exactly the same. He looked at her for a long time, gauging her in silence, then he closed his fists.

— I don't want to hurt you, whispered the one who was now Aislin through clenched teeth.

She wanted him to be the only one to hear it. She knew she had to hurt him if she didn't want to disappear like the little pale-haired boy. Dad would be crazy to know that she hurt someone for no good reason. Dad was... Dad was just a vague memory, a distant voice, a flash of dark blue, a scent nestled somewhere in the depths of her memory. But she knew it. And that's probably why she stubbornly refused to perform any experiments that required hurting other children. There must have been something special about her, because in spite of that, they never hurt her, they never forced her, on the contrary, they tried to make her do strange things by coaxing her. It probably had something to do with the fact that she could blow things up, like light bulbs, or computer screens, when she was really angry or scared. And also because she seemed very quick to adapt.

In front of her, the gaunt boy smiled at her. A vicious smile.

\- I don't want to hurt you either. He whispered: You're so small.

\- I'm strong. 

Aislin raised her chin in defiance.

\- I know... and much stronger than They think, or even more than you think. Name's Archer. Yours?

\- The bracelet says 'Aislin'...

Archer tilted his head to the side.

\- I can find it, your name, your real name, not the one they gave you.

\- Did they give you a name, too?

\- No, they didn't. Always been Archer... there's no "before" for me. Am Archer Rose... I belong here.

Aislin frowned, confused.

\- What do they want?

\- They want us, what we are, what we have inside, and they want to use it.

\- Why do they want to use it?

\- Because they're evil.

Never did she ask the right question. What were they? Because deep inside, she knew. Archer came abruptly up to her and hugged her.

\- I promise, I'll help you, but I need your help first.

The men in white coats entered the room in a panic and separated them. They were shouting and threatening, and that's when she felt it. It was faint, like a tingling, something on the edge of her perception, a comforting buzz, a vibration. It was as if suddenly something missing had just come into place. Archer smiled at her as the men forcibly pulled him out of the room, and she understood that he too had felt the same thing. She smiled back at him. A vicious smile.

***

She used to sleep under the bed in the bedroom. It was a place that could have been described as a cell, if it had not been spotless and composed of everything necessary for a child of her age: the bed was not uncomfortable, far from it, there was a desk, a chest of drawers where there were clothes that were always her size, a bookcase with books, and a computer that did not seem to communicate with anyone. In one corner, there was even a bathroom with a mirror in which she did not recognize the reflection she saw. But Aislin didn't want to be surprised anymore. It had happened to her once : she had woken up in a panic because someone had grabbed her by the arm, and she had screamed so loudly that the screen and the computer's CPU had literally imploded, causing panic in the room. In fear, she had taken refuge in a corner, crying. As a woman tried to reassure her and convince her to come to her, she seemed to see out of the corner of her eye another person being dragged out of the room and holding their arm...

She had deduced from this that she should no longer allow herself to be surprised, because she did not want to unintentionally hurt anyone else, even though she did not particularly feel sympathy for the multitude of men and women in white coats around her. It was something that... that who, already? The man in blue... something that he wouldn't have liked... And then, she didn't want to wake up not knowing how she had gotten into another room... or worse... so she had built herself a very uncomfortable nest under the bed. And in time, she had learned to sleep in it, often with one eye. That's why she heard the rubbing on the floor even before she opened them. From her den, she saw two bare feet stopping in front of the bed. If feet could express perplexity, these two could do it very well. Finally, the feet called in a low, almost inaudible voice.

\- Aislin? I know you're here... I can feel it.

She recognised Archer's voice. She hadn't seen him since they met. Time was becoming a blurred notion, with no other way of marking the passing of time than the number of times she'd seen something that seemed like breakfast. So she didn't know if two days, two weeks or two months had passed since the last time. She sneaked out of her hiding place and found herself face to face with the too tall boy. He smiled at her, but this time as if he was happy to see her.

\- I knew you'd give them a run for their money. There was a tooth missing from his smile. Come on, I gotta show you something.

Without waiting for her answer, he walked to what was used as a bathroom.

\- The door is that way, noticed the girl.

She heard that something was being pushed into the small room, and she resolved to join Archer there. She found him perched on the toilet, with part of his body disappearing into the ceiling.

\- There's a whole network in the ceiling. Makes sense if you want air where we are. They just didn't think some of us could squeeze through them.

He finished his explanation as his legs joined the rest of his body, then his head and an arm reappeared.

\- Comin'?

Logic would have dictated Aislin's refusal. What would happen if they came into her room and couldn't find her? And where would Archer take her? Maybe it was a trap, or maybe it was another test? But Aislin didn't dwell on any of those questions. Instead, she trusted the strange feeling she felt when Archer was nearby, and she grabbed the outstretched hand to pull herself up to the pipes.

***

For a little girl of her age who was only distracted by videos and people who wanted to keep sticking needles and electrodes in her and making her do all kinds of nonsense, their journey through the air ducts was a real game. Archer had warned her to be as quiet as possible. She scrupulously obeyed the order, freezing herself when he told her to do so, holding her breath, then resuming their advance like mice trying to escape from a pack of cats.

Archer seemed to know this place like the back of his hand. He was so skinny that, despite his almost eleven years of age, he passed largely between the narrow walls covered with dirt and cobwebs. Aislin's hands and knees were covered with a thin brown layer, and she must also have had some in her hair and face. But the experience was wildly amusing and she had a broad smile on her face. After a long time, Archer finally stopped at a panel that looked like the one in her room. He pushed it silently to the side, stopping dead still and waiting for a while when it made a slight squeaking sound. Finally he slid it and wedged it against the wall and disappeared into the opening.

Aislin waited a little, then she saw his hand reappear and wave at her. She crawled to the edge. She was above a room that looked exactly like the cubicle that served as her bathroom. Archer, still perched on the toilet, motioned for her to slide down.

\- C'mon.

She let herself slide into the opening and he helped her to the floor. She was much smaller than he was, and it was easy for him to hold her. When he grabbed her, she felt a vibration, the same vibration she had felt when he had suddenly hugged her when they first met. He must have felt it too, because he nodded and smiled at her with his missing tooth again.

\- It's normal.

\- What's that? What's this place?

To be careful, she whispered, while looking around. The tiny bathroom was decorated, unlike hers. Obviously, the occupant was a dinosaurs' lover. There were dinosaurs on the towel, on the toothbrush's glass, even the soap dish was shaped like a dinosaur. She felt like laughing. 

\- I don't know what that is. All I know is that it's only you and Ben that makes me feel it. For Ben, I thought it made sense. Now I don't really know anymore. Archer seemed confused.

\- Who's Ben?

Instead of answering her, the boy grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to the room. It was made for someone much younger than her, and still decorated with dinosaurs. Sitting on the edge of the bed, playing with... a plastic dinosaur, a little boy looked up when they came in.

\- Hey Ben, see, I brought her!

Ben's face lit up when he saw Aislin and he stood up to jump on her neck.

\- Also! the child lisped. He clung to her, visibly thrilled.

\- Ben is my little brother, Archer explained as he sat on the bed.

With the child clinging to her like a koala on a branch of eucalyptus, Aislin wasn't sure what to do. She secured her grip by putting her arms under his buttocks so that he wouldn't fall out if he let go. He was light... Looking at him more closely, she noticed that there was indeed a resemblance to Archer. Even though Ben had a rounder face... He had the same eyes she had, too. His bracelet said "Benjamin". In addition to the usual sequence of numbers, there was a strange acronym. As she held it, she realised why Archer had brought her here. The air in the room seemed to vibrate harmoniously around them. As if all the cogs of a mechanism had been put in place and were working in unison, perfectly, naturally. She had the strange feeling that she had been incomplete so far. Which was absurd. She looked at the little boy in her arms and then at Archer.

\- I can't explain it myself. But there it was... And that's what I thought.

Benjamin, who must have known what his brother was talking about, nodded his head vigorously. He took Aislin's wrist and tried to decipher the bracelet.

\- A… ?

\- Aislin.

He tried to repeat it but failed. He finally opted for "Leen", which was obviously simpler for him. Aislin joined Archer on the bed. Immediately, little Benjamin huddled up with her. She felt as if she had done this before, carrying someone smaller, who trusted her completely, but once again the fleeting image escaped her.

\- I promised I'd find your name, remember?

She nodded slowly.

\- I'm working on it. But I want you to promise me something. 

He looked terribly serious all of a sudden. She waited.

\- You're going to help Ben and me to escape from here. We're gonna get out of here, the three of us. And we're gonna find your name. And where you come from.

Archer seemed determined. His fists clenched as he spoke.

\- You okay with that? 

Aislin wanted to get out of here, but she had no idea how. But maybe they were going to find a way to do so.

\- OK ...

Archer's face lit up.

\- Did you hear that, Ben?!

Benjamin was sleeping on Aislin.

\- He likes you”, his brother said.

\- How are we going to do this?

\- We'll figure it out, there's time. And we're all three of us now. That's a lot. Together we're stronger.

Archer seemed confident, and his confidence was contagious.

\- All right.

\- You're our sister now, Archer added with a big smile, as if this kind of thing just happened like that.

***

That night, Aislin slept with Archer and little Benjamin. For the first time, she didn't hide under her bed, feeling safe with what seemed destined to become her family in this strange and scary place. At one point, Archer woke her up and walked her back to her room, where she washed her face and slipped under her bed. When she was picked up, she let herself be picked up without protest, which surprised people in white coats and delighted them. She and Archer had decided that the best way to make their escape was to learn everything that could be useful to them. 

The Little Girl totally faded away that day. She had just turned seven. Her name was now Aislin Rose.


	2. The Great Dipper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange incindent leads Pr Furukawa to perform a mysterious surgery on Aislin.

> Can you see the Great Dipper?
> 
> I hope you will wait for me Slowly joining the glistening stars…
> 
> Can you see the Great Dipper?
> 
> Wherever you are, I will follow you and light up your path.
> 
> Roy Kim, **The Great Dipper.**

Machiko Furukawa watched the three children from a looking bay overlooking the room where they stood. She couldn't tell what had happened a few years earlier, but one fine morning Archer had become more docile, and had obviously taken Aislin with him. Although their obedience was limited to a specific number of tasks, their progress had been impressive. Satisfied that everything was finally going according to her plan, she had tried not to pay attention to the strange feeling she sometimes had when she saw them acting. She was suspicious toward Archer. He was exceeding her expectations, sharp, incisive, tough and incredibly sly. He got that part from his father. And Machiko would've preferred that he'd just bequeathed him his genes and not this incredible ability to sneak around without being spotted.

She still remembered the day when she had realized there was something special about him. All children are born with blue eyes, but not him. That day, she had realized that she was holding an opportunity in her arms that she couldn't pass up. An opportunity that suddenly made up for the months of disgust she had suffered by feeling and seeing this foreign body growing inside her own. Not being in control had been the worst. She'd hated the mood swings that prevented her from concentrating on her work. She'd hated the pain of childbirth. And she'd hated even more the stupid look on her husband's face when the puffy red thing finally came out of her body. Realizing that this thing could actually be a chance had saved her from going crazy in the end.

That's why she had been glad that her research was more advanced when it came to the question of replicating the miracle with another child. This time, she didn't have to carry him, or even have her husband touch her. These familiarities had wearied her from the first year of their union, and the poor fool had never understood that she'd only married him to gain access to his name and his connections in the scientific community. The accident, a few months before Benjamin's conception, had relieved her of a burden, at the same time providing her with the status of grieving widow drowning in her work.

From then on, she had worked tirelessly to perfect what she had achieved. She had focused particularly on her two children and the little girl found in the course of a medical examination. She had contacts in several hospitals in the country, who were highly paid to report special cases to the Khimaira company. A young police officer and his wife had arrived one morning with a five-year-old girl at Brooklyn Hospital Center, worried because she was suddenly cold in the middle of summer and did not seem to have a fever. The panic over the equipment and two short circuits were enough to put the chip in her ear. A week later, she contacted the family to offer them a revolutionary treatment for an orphan disease with a complicated name. The mere sight of the father taught her that she was right. The man, decidedly too young to be a father in her opinion, had the same eyes as her sons. The girl had the same eyes as his sons.

After six months of treatment, one night, an unknown man entered the hospital and left with the little girl. They were looking for someone to blame. The hospital and Khimaira were convicted of negligence, they paid a heavy fine and a few people were fired for the cause. After six months, Machiko's work could finally begin. She considered it to be goldsmithing, but on a genetic level. Months of observation before the first operations and modifications. Months of searching for what needed to be improved or stifled. She had to admit that working with the kid had been easier than working with her son. For some reason, they shared more genes in common than any of the other children. But the girl naturally had some interesting predispositions. A real dream. That's why she chose her new name accordingly. Aislin. The dream in Irish. A sick nod to her family. She had quickly sorted through the children they had brought to the 738 complex, reducing the number of lucky ones to ten, then five, then three.

Machiko looked up from the screen she was reading another compilation of analysis on. The word that seemed the most appropriate to describe what was happening between the three children was "symbiosis". Very often, Aislin's reactions were the exact complement of Archer's. If he was offensive, she immediately adopted a defensive behaviour, and vice versa. Benjamin was a bit of a free electron. He always seemed to act on his own, before they realised he was actually falling into the pattern of his two elders. Machiko wasn't sure what to do with that information. Basically, the children were supposed to be separate entities, acting autonomously, just like everyone else. But she had quickly realized that they reinforced each other, which was the reason for her decision to move them to a new place, dedicated to their training, but also to her new pet project. When she saw them, she had an idea: why not use their genetic code to create an entity that would be even more adaptable? That's how the Chimera project was born, and it was to be her greatest achievement.

As she looked up from her tablet, she suddenly caught Archer's eye. Once again, she felt the uneasiness that invariably seized her. He wasn't supposed to see her, let alone know she was there. And yet, every time, it was as if he was looking her straight in the eye. She blamed it on perspective and mere chance... which always happened again. She drove the unpleasant sensation away with a shrug and moved closer to the bay. Archer had lowered his eyes and was concentrating again on what the other two were doing. Aislin and Benjamin were leaning over a screen in the center of the table. Benjamin was literally lying on it, flapping his feet, a radiant smile on his face, his head stuck to the girl's forehead. Aislin was showing him various things as she scrolled across the screen. She had a pale, almost transparent complexion, typical of people with red hair. The effect was accentuated by the fact that she hadn't seen daylight for a few years and had grown up under the neon lights of the labs. Benjamin and Archer had the same pale, almost sickly complexion, which contrasted with their black hair. For a few seconds, Machiko wondered if she should make some adjustments to their vision. To prevent daylight from being too much of a handicap on the day they would go out. Or else... she quickly wrote something down at the bottom of her page and turned her attention to the silent scene. She nodded to one of the assistants who turned on the sound.

\- This one is the Big Dipper. They say it's a bear.

Aislin was showing something on the screen. Benjamin immediately started doing what he thought was a bear impersonation. Archer burst out laughing.

\- No, Benji, that's what a bear is!

Laughing, he threw himself on his little brother and pretended to eat him. Benjamin laughed and squirmed to escape from his elder brother.

\- You're going to break the screen!

Aislin smiled at them. Machiko heaved.

\- It doesn't look like a bear! Benjamin finally saw it when he escaped from Archer and resumed his position on the table. Why do they call it that?

\- Because... because...

Aislin froze and a strange expression passed over her face. Archer was the first one near her. The girl curled up in her chair holding her head. Machiko frowned and waited from his observation post.

\- It's okay Leen... don't panic, it'll pass. Don't look, don't ask. You'll be in too much pain.

Aislin gave a long scream of pain before one of the lab assistants pushed Archer away and came and grabbed her by the arm to get her up. As Archer's hand left Aislin's shoulders, Machiko clearly saw an electric arc forming, connecting her son's fingertips to the girl's shoulders. She watched the phenomenon closely, which caused her to lose her overview. She only realized afterwards what had happened, as she reviewed the images of the event. Aislin screamed louder. The electric arc seemed to run along her arms and, without any warning, a shock wave engulfed the room, so violent that it shattered the bay. When Machiko opened her eyes again, she saw that Archer had caught Benjamin and had taken refuge under the table. Of the three men in the room with the children, one was gripping his leg with a grimace, splinters of wood stuck in his flesh, another had managed to take shelter behind a seat, and the last one was lying on the floor, his empty eyes staring at the ceiling, one hand missing. Aislin herself had passed out against the table, her body still surrounded by what seemed to be pure energy.

When everyone finally came to their senses, Machiko ordered the two boys to be taken to their rooms. She readjusted her glasses as Archer struggled to reach the still unconscious Aislin. She turned to one of his assistants, who was bleeding from the shards of glass he had caught on his arms.

\- Call Forthworm and get the OR prepped. I want the kid ready in half an hour. You'd better hurry.

***

\- Why do they call it like that?

\- Because... because...

As always, Aislin felt like she was watching the world while she was underwater. Everything was blurred, distorted, voices, faces, shapes, as if she was just beneath the surface and never managed to reach it and find the open air again. It was a stifling sensation, bordering on asphyxiation. Everything was constantly moving and she could never discern anything tangible. Usually that was when her head started to hurt horribly and she became nauseous. She had screamed in pain and everything suddenly turned black. And very painful.

_\- Hera was furious that Callisto and Arcas escaped her, so she decided that they would be stars._

The voice was familiar. Warm. Deep. Soothing. Someone was moving next to her, on the other side of the surface. Turning the pages of a book.

_\- But why?!_

The other voice was small, outraged. Hers, she knew it.

_\- Because..._ there was that awful whistle in her ears again.

_\- ...done what?_

_\- She placed them in the sky. And forbade them to pass behind the horizon all night long._

_\- How do they sleep then?_

_\- That's their punishment. And you have to sleep, my darling._

Once again the memory slipped from her. On the surface, a shape moved, leaned towards her in what seemed to be a lemon whiff, and kissed her forehead. Their words were lost in a distorted whisper. But she thought she understood there was talk of a fever. She closed her eyes and dived back into the darkness.

***

Archer was not only sneaking through the pipes to see Aislin, but also to regularly consult the documents in his mother's office. Only part of it was accessible to him. The rest was often incomprehensible. But his nocturnal readings allowed him to anticipate each of Furukawa's movements, most of the time. And, yes, he couldn't call his genitor by anything other than her name, as she was so foreign to him. This time, what had happened was unexpected. And he guessed it was new. And it's my fault, he kept repeating to himself over and over again. I don't know what happened, but it's my fault that they hurt her.

  
So he went through the air ducts to get to the recovery room. He knew Aislin would be in pain when she woke up. The operations were always painful. They were in pain for days afterwards. But they usually didn't say anything and clenched their teeth. Out of habit. Pride. So as not to satisfy Furukawa. He sometimes wondered whether the fact that each of them grew without ever thickening was a good thing or not (it was surely a sign of some deficiencies, despite all the supplements they were given ad nauseam), but it was a good thing for him. At almost fourteen years old he could still pass easily through the lab's pipes, even if, after they had been moved, he had to mentally reconstruct a new map of the whole hidden network.

And if before he had had a vague idea of where they were, now he didn't even know if they had changed sector, state, or even country, and that upset him. He pushed the grid and pulled himself out of the ceiling smoothly, letting his eyes briefly get used to the lack of light. That too was new. He had woken up one morning with a headache and something over his eyes. A few days later his bandage had been removed, and he had been surprised to find that even the smallest light source allowed him to see as if it were daylight, once he had got used to the darkness. Benjamin had suffered the same fate. And if Aislin had been spared, Archer didn't know why.

He stood a little at ground level, making sure there was no one around, then he straightened up and walked to his sister's bed. Most of the machines were giving out information he couldn't understand. But he had promised himself he would learn that too, one way or another. He pulled a chair out silently and sat down, looking at Aislin's face. She was even paler than usual, if it was possible. And her breathing was troubled. He was counting on a bad dream and the fact that she would soon open her eyes. He took her hand carefully, expecting to trigger another catastrophe. Nothing happened and he relaxed a little, squeezing harder and waiting.

***

Her ears were ringing horribly, she wondered when the infernal noise would stop. She felt her hand being shaken, perhaps a little too hard, but the feeling was lost behind a veil of intense pain. Until now, it had always been tolerable. Aislin was usually able to ignore it. It only lasted for a while, and the strange sensation she felt when she was near Archer and Benjamin tended to alleviate it. It was something that was there without really being there, neither a sound nor a vibration, but both at the same time, like the string of an instrument that would continue to resonate at a barely audible frequency long after it had been plucked. But this time, it was simply atrocious. It was as if a needle was stuck into the end of each of her nerves and pulled out and then started all over again. She could feel the familiar vibration in the back of her mind, but this time it couldn't cover up the rest, far too weak and distant.

Finally she painfully opened her eyes, with an unobstructed view of the machines next to her. She breathed a sigh and tried to turn around on her back so that she couldn't see them anymore. The world turned upside down and she felt the nausea rise as the pain intensified. She let escape a long moan of pain and felt a hand on her arm trying to reassure her. She turned her head to meet Archer's worried eyes, who in turn was trying to display a reassuring smile. And failed miserably. He cautiously helped her back on her side, but facing him this time.

\- I'm here, lil' sister. It's going to be okay? Does it hurt?

She just nodded her head and winced as she did so, the pain increasing again.

\- Don't move if it hurts.

It was the first time Aislin could see such concern in his brother's eyes. She tried to get up on one elbow and screamed. She felt as if her whole back was burning and it was tearing horribly. She felt the tears rising and clenched her teeth, as she had become accustomed to. She couldn't speak. So she stared at Archer, trying to make him understand her question.

\- Don't know... your... back is... it's all red and... they've... I don't know, but it'll pass.

Archer couldn't explain what he was seeing. There was a bandage covering his sister's neck, and there was probably more down there. He didn't know what they'd done this time, but it looked like they'd done something to her. He kept wincing so as not to panic Aislin.

\- It'll pass, no worries

It was the only thing he could repeat to try reassuring her. Aislin finally cried silently, and Archer realised that this time she must be in a lot more pain than she’d ever been before. That worried him even more. And he couldn't do anything about it, which only increased his cold rage towards Furukawa. So he just stood there, more or less in silence, saying reassuring words or promises from time to time, until it was time for him to leave. He went back to his room and perhaps the piece of furniture that he cut in one gesture was a sign of his anger towards his genitor and her clique, as well as of his powerlessness in this situation.

***

This time, Benjamin and Archer didn't officially see Aislin again until more than a week after the incident. Every night, Archer would sneak out to see her and watch over her or keep her company. After two or three days, the girl started to talk again. She asked him what had happened, and he lied a bit... He explained that by touching her, he had probably triggered something important, but that he didn't know what (the truth). But he told her that no one had been hurt because of it (a lie). He couldn't tell if Aislin believed him or not. The first time, she looked at him for a long time without saying anything, but it seemed as if she vaguely remembered something, and that wasn't the most pleasant thing.

In the end he had repeated the lie so many times that he had almost convinced himself that it was the truth.

When Aislin came back she was still pale and would occasionally wince when she moved her head a little too sharply. Archer looked in horror at the long red line that now followed her spine down to the middle of her back. He'd taken a few trips to Machiko's office to try to find out what had happened, but he hadn't found anything conclusive. Either there was nothing here, or it was very well hidden. What he hated most was when they came to get Aislin and took her away, often for long hours, they didn't know where. Usually she'd come back exhausted and very pale. And sometimes terrified of what she'd been asked to do. After a month, the scars were less awful to see, but Archer could sometimes catch his sister wincing briefly. And that worried him very much.

That day, the three of them were in the room where they were left to study and, for Ben, to play. The little boy was busy trying to carefully fold pieces of paper. Archer leaned over to him.

\- Hey, Benji, what you doin'?

His little brother looked up from his task, his forehead wrinkled from concentration.

\- Stars. For Leen... she's sad. Want to give her the Big Dipper.

He showed him the image from the last time, in a book that lay before him. Another showed how to fold origami. Ben was following the instructions carefully and had already made two big stars and a smaller one.

\- She's sad. I don't like to see her sad.

Aislin was sitting farther away, a book on her lap. She was tired again and closed her eyes from time to time, as if she was falling asleep. Archer hadn't heard her laugh for weeks, despite Ben's antics, which worried him.

\- That's a good idea, Benji. Lemme help you with that.

He sat down next to his brother and began to carefully fold some sheets. After half an hour, between the two of them, they had folded seven large stars and ten smaller ones. Benjamin carefully placed the stars on the table, as shown in the picture in the book. Then, with Archer's help, he glued them together on a new sheet of paper and carefully drew the lines connecting them. When he had finished, he stood up and moved back a little to admire his work with a big smile.

The whole thing was a bit crooked, and the stars had odd colours. Some were blue, some were yellow, and some had things written on them. Archer smiled, amused when he saw the result. He had tried to be as meticulous as Ben, but his stars were easy to spot in the lot. The set reminded him a little of what they were, and he thought his little brother's idea was even more brilliant. He smiled at him and gently took the sheet.

\- We're going to bring it to her, okay? I'm sure she'll like it.

They joined their sister, who was still wincing. Archer forced himself to smile.

\- Hey, lil' sister, look. Ben made you the Big Dipper.

He showed her the sheet and its collage. One of the stars, loose, broke off and fell down.

\- Oops... 

Archer tried to laugh about it, but he caught Aislin's eye. She was staring at him with tears in her eyes. Archer panicked and hurriedly gave the sheet to Benjamin. Benjamin stared sadly at his sister. The elder boy took her in his arms and held her tightly. She didn't scream, but he felt her reach out to him.

\- What is it, lil' sister? What did they do to you?

She hugged him, sobbing, and whispered to him:

\- It doesn't stop, Arch... it's always there. It hurts so bad... so bad. It won't shut up. Why won't it shut up? I can't hear you and Benji because it hurts so much...

Gently, Archer rocked her, tenderly. He looked at the wall in front of him... His features hardened as Aislin repeated over and over again how much pain she was in. He was careful not to hug her too tightly, and he gritted his teeth. He whispered in her ear:

\- They're going to pay fo' that, sister. They're going to pay for what they did to you and what they did to us. They'll pay and we'll go out and see the stars.


End file.
